June 07
2013

Even more reviews for Much Ado About Nothing.
The New York Post says "[it's] the first filmed Shakespeare comedy in decades that's actually funny". The New York Times describes the movie as having a "has a sly, robust eroticism". The L.A. Times says "the transference of the play's setting to today's Santa Monica works beautifully". IGN.com "Everyone should see this movie". Salon.com "[it] possesses that Whedon-esque nerdy energy, fizzing with humor, eroticism, booze and more than a hint of danger". New York Daily News "an absolute delight, as merry as the day is long". Slate.com "as bracingly effervescent as picnic champagne". Variety.com "this nimble black-and-white rendition honors a classic text".

The current Metacritic score is 76 btw. And if you see any more reviews, please do post them in the comments section.

Wired's review from Jason Michelitch is not flattering. "It may seem churlish to react so poorly to what is essentially a quickly-made romp with friends, but there is something just so profoundly disappointing about the entire enterprise."

I saw that Wired review too. The writer makes that old complaint about Joss that he is more of a writer and is not a visually interesting director. However a few other reviews have complimented the films visual style. I haven't seen Much Ado myself but I've never found Joss to be lacking a cinematic shooting style.

Most small independent film don't get this many reviewers at major news outlets to review them, so even the bad reviews are still pretty good free advertising. And I'm not going to worry about a few bad ones when 'Much Ado About Nothing' is at 82% fresh at Rottentomatoes (higher than any other film currently out in theaters). I'm really excited about this!

Of course it is only in a handful (literally) of theaters at the moment, but I'm hoping all this good press will help it get to more theaters in more state (like in Iowa! LOL).

My local paper, the SF Chronicle had a glowing review of the movie - can't link bc it's behind a pay wall. The reviewer even went so far as to say he was so moved that he had tears in his eyes at least four times during the movie.

Oh thank you dottkin! I had been so happy to see all the great reviews from LA and NYC, but disappointed that I wasn't reading any coming out of San Francisco. So I'm really happy to hear it got a great review in the Chronicle (I've asked my friends to go and tell me how they liked it, but the good review will reassure them it isn't just for me!).

This line from the Wired review is illuminating re: the reviewer: "[in] Whedonís television work [...] the dialogue-driven plot development is king, clever twists and glib lines are hard currency, and anything resembling the poetry of cinema is generally absent."

While some of this is there, Joss' work doesn't have an ironic tone... I would say that character is primary over plot in his TV work and "poetry of television" is most certainly there, quite famously so in some cases... it seems (like so much Wired writing) the reviewer prefers to pronounce from an ironic, "please me" distance.

Man, what's with all the hatin' on the critic who didn't like it? Seems like any time a critic is less than enthused about a Joss project, the commenters* go on offense with ad hominem attacks against the critic. People have opinions and preferences. The guy who wrote that Wired review has his own. Not really sure that his review was so egregious that it merited people telling him that he's "pretentious," "never come close to ever actually having made a film," and "[w]ould that you had begun your article with an outline, and/or asked someone to edit it."

It's one thing to disagree with a critic's opinion of the film, but going into attack mode against anyone who expresses a less-than-adulatory opinion does seem a bit Belieber-esque.

*Talking about the Wired commenters and those on a few other reviews I've seen.

I've never cared what critics think, either way... why is their opinion on these things so important to me? Is it really that important that some other random people like what I like? I enjoy what I enjoy, regardless of critics. Joss has generally made things that I enjoy :) Can't wait to see it.